I graduated from the University of Auckland in New Zealand in January 2001 with a Bachelor of Engineering, emphasis in mechanical. I worked for one year as a machine designer at Compac Sorting equipment designing fruit sorting machinery. I moved to Reno Nevada where I completed my Masters in Engineering in August 2003 studying shock isolation on pulse power plasma generators. I worked for the University of Nevada at Reno for two years before moving to Davis California to start my PhD in Mechanical Engineering.